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Saturday, December 24, 2016

CHRISTMAS IS JESUS

Tomorrow morning,
people all over will gather, open their Bibles, and turn to Luke chapter
2.Most of our Christmas mornings begin
with these words…

“In those days a decree went
out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered… And she brought forth her firstborn Son,
and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there
was no room for them in the inn.”

I spent the month
of December anticipating the Coming, the birth of our
rescuer, Jesus Christ. Christmas is all
about His birth. Easter is all about
His death. But I find that
reflecting on His death, His sacrifice, and His life, heightens my
anticipation of His birth. It actually changes Christmas.

The birth of Jesus was the
start of a 33 year journeythat ended on a Friday that we call Good.

A baby, placed in a
wooden box.

A man, nailed to a
wooden cross.I've spent the last couple of weeks in this non-traditional Christmas passage...

Jesus
stood before Pilate, the governor, who asked him, “Are you the king of the
Jews?” Jesus answered, “Yes, that’s right.”Then, when the leading priests and the older
Jewish leaders made their accusations against Jesus, he said nothing.So Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear all
these charges they are making against you? Why don’t you answer?”But Jesus did not say anything, and this really
surprised the governor.Every year at
Passover time the governor would free one prisoner—whichever one the people
wanted him to free.At that time there
was a man in prison who was known to be very bad. His name was Barabbas.When a crowd gathered, Pilate said to them,
“I will free one man for you.Which one
do you want me to free: Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over
to him because they were jealous of him.While Pilate was sitting there in the place for judging, his wife sent a
message to him. It said, “Don’t do
anything with that man.He is not
guilty. Last night I had a dream about
him, and it troubled me very much.”But
the leading priests and older Jewish leaders told the people to ask for
Barabbas to be set free and for Jesus to be killed.Pilate said, “I have Barabbas and Jesus. Which one do you want me to set free for you?”The people answered, “Barabbas!”Pilate asked, “So what should I do with Jesus, the one called the
Messiah?” All the people said, “Kill him
on a cross!”Pilate asked, “Why do you
want me to kill him? What wrong has he done?”But they shouted louder, “Kill him on a cross!”Pilate saw that there was nothing he could do
to make the people change.In fact, it
looked as if there would be a riot. So he took some water and washed his hands
in front of them all.He said, “I am not
guilty of this man’s death. You are the ones who are doing it!”The people answered, “We will take full
responsibility for his death. You can blame us and even our children!”Then Pilate set Barabbas free.And he told some soldiers to beat Jesus with
whips. Then he handed him over to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.{Matthew 27:11-26}

This Christmas, my thoughts keep going to the one who lived.

The one who was set free.

Barabbas.

A thief.A murder.

An all around bad
guy.

The murderer lived.

The Messiah died.

I find myself
dreaming of what became of Barabbas.

How did this guilty
man feel when he was set free?

Did that moment
change him?Give him purpose?

I so want to know
that Barabbas didn’t, for one second, waste his pardon.

I so want to hear
that Barabbas spent the rest of his life preaching the Gospel of grace. But I don't think that's what happened.

And as I'm feeling frustrated and disappointed in a man I don't even know,God quietly whispered to my heart...Did that moment
change you?Did it give you purpose?

My cross was your
cross, Jackie.Are you wasting your
pardon?

I took your place
so you could live.Who are you living
for?

And that has messed up my Christmas.

We spend so much time making Christmas into something that it was never meant to be. The world wants Christmas to be about a baby, and presents, and Santa, and an elf. The world wants us to make Christmas about us. But when you remove the distractions and set time aside to focus on the Coming, it messes you up. When you take time to remember the humble birth ended in a violent death because of my sins and your sins, it changes you. When I picture myself as Barabbas, standing next to Jesus, and guilty me gets to go free, it's just too much.Christmas is love.

Christmas is grace.

Christmas is Jesus.His birth, His life, His death.They are all connected.They are all important.And they were all motivated my love.Think
of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.He had equal status with God but didn’t think
so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no
matter what.Not at all.When the time came, he set aside the privileges
of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human.
It was an incredibly humbling process.He didn’t claim special privileges.Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless,
obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.{Philippians
2:5-8}